Fabolous

Following the highly dramatic second season of Love & Hip Hop, and the non-reunion recap show, Yandy Smith is now opening up on a whole lot in a new interview.

Talking to VH1, Yandy confirms what we reported, which is that Chrissy Lampkin was indeed the reason VH1 could not film a typical reunion, as she refused to be in the same room with Yandy because Yandy refuses to bow down to her unlike Emily and Olivia. Diva much?

Yandy also reveals the status of her relationship withJim Jonesand Mama Jones today, discusses how she actually helped create the Love & Hip Hop series, and responds to all those rumors out about her – including the pesky one that she’s pregnant. Below are excerpts from Yandy’s interview:

What are your thoughts on the recap episode?

I was a little apprehensive, I was a little upset at the last few episodes with Erica and I was like ‘Oh my god, you guys made it look like I was setting Kim up!’ so I was kind of upset with production and Mona [Scott-Young] and I was like, why aren’t we doing a regular reunion show, I want to address people and certain things that were said and done, and Mona was like well, Chrissy doesn’t want to tape with you. I was like with me?? Why not? So I was like, I only want to do it if I can address the things that have happened because I don’t like looking a certain type of way.

I know that you were around for the filming on season one. I don’t know what your role was though. Were you on the set a lot?

No, I pitched the show but it was called, ‘Keeping Up With the Joneses.’ I pitched it. We couldn’t really get Jim to commit the way we needed him to, so I called my good friend Mona and she came in and she was pitching a show to another network about the women behind the scenes in hip-hop. So we put our brains together, and we figured out that we did the same kind of concept that she had but with Jim and Chrissy. Season one, I was actually overseas with Missy Elliott. I was overseas for three months, and that was the whole taping. I came back the day of Chrissy’s proposal to Jim and I was there for that. You’ll see me on clips briefly in that proposal scene.

Have you spoken to Jim at all since everything ended?

Nope, I haven’t.And what about your relationship with Mama Jones?

I’ve spoken to Mama Jones… a bunch of times. I just spoke with her yesterday. Things are okay with her and I. She got mad at the last episode, but other than that…well not the last episode, she got mad when Chrissy and I got into it at the club. She was like, “That was unnecessary!” People don’t understand that when you’re human, you can only hold your composure but for so long, especially if it’s not who you really are. I’m not someone who gets talked to crazy or one that gets mistreated. You know, I have pretty good relationships. I’ve always maintained my relationships, so that was really difficult for me to keep biting my tongue. Someone just kept picking at me. You know? It was just difficult. It got to a point where I just got really tired and I was like, “You know what? I’m going to quit because I don’t ever want to disrespect someone’s lady.” So that’s when I just felt like maybe the best thing for me to do is just walk away from the situation to make things a little easier for him.Do you take any comfort knowing that [Chrissy’s] anger and her feelings weren’t only directed at you? She had her fight with Kimbella. She’s had her history with Somaya—

Then Olivia for a little bit.

Exactly.

I don’t take comfort in knowing that because I think it’s sad, you know? I don’t take comfort in knowing that someone’s so bothered and just so unhappy that they have to find something to pick at. That doesn’t make me happy. That doesn’t make me comforted. I wish she could’ve been happy and have enjoyed taping and had a great experience from it. I do not find comfort in knowing that, you know, she had to find someone to pick at every season or every episode.You’ve been the target of rumors, including one about you being pregnant, how do you handle that?

It’s crazy. I’ve heard I got a nose job, people put up before and after pictures of me, but they don’t know about makeup contouring. I’ve heard that I have butt implants. I’ve heard that I hosted a party at a gay and lesbian club so I’m a lesbian, I’ve heard so many crazy things, I don’t know how to explain it. I think people are used to it and know that it’s nonsense. Every single week I hear something new about me and it’s 98& false and 2% okay, I’ll give you that, maybe I gained weight so my boobs look bigger and I do look fatter.What’s going on with your jewelry line?

It’s going really well! We’re calling it a lifestyle brand, EverythingGirlsLove.com is the name of the jewelry line and the online magazine. It launched when the show launched and it’s doing amazingly well in such a short time. We have Karen Gravanofrom Mob Wives on the cover now, last month we had Mashonda, the first month I was on the cover.

Meanwhile, Jim Jones made the following tweets below about producer Mona Scott Young after the recap episode aired on Monday night:

When all else fails, blame editing or better yet blame the producer! Both Chrissy and Jim are acting like whiney sore losers. The minute fans are no longer team Chrissy, all of a sudden they are ready to quit the show. Perhaps Chrissy needs to accept responsibility for her own bully actions, instead of blaming others! She’s the one who made herself look bad this season; starting with the nastiness by stomping and sucker punching Kimbella.

Moving on to Emily Bustamante, who posted a picture of her and her rapper beau Fabolous, proving the two are still indeed together or something like it. Emily posted a cozy photo of the two under the caption: “Don’t sleep on us.” That photo of Emily and Fab is below!

TELL US – THOUGHTS ON YANDY’S INTERVIEW? TEAM CHRISSY OR TEAM YANDY? DO YOU WANT TO SEE CHRISSY RETURN NEXT SEASON? IS EMILY SMART TO GET BACK TOGETHER WITH FABOLOUS?

On last night’s Love & Hip Hop, it was the Producer’s Tell All! I have to say I didn’t hate the format as much as I thought I would. With the ladies not yelling over one another, it was easier to get more questions answered… and they seemed to ask the questions viewers would want to know, aka no John Salley softballs!

The show’s executive producer Mona Scott-Young reveals that because one several cast members now refuse to be in the same room together, coughs Chrissy, the show has to forgo the traditional reunion format. Instead, viewers are treated to a behind the scenes look at the inner-workings of the show as well as one-on-one interviews with the cast.

First up, Jim Jones! The man, the myth, the dude at the center of a lot of the ladies’ drama. This season’s new cast mate, Yandy Smith was the rapper’s manager for the past eight years, and she was supposedly brought on at the request of his girlfriend Chrissy Lampkin. However, quickly, the ladies began feuding, with Jim caught in the middle. It resulted in a total breakdown of Jim and Yandy’s professional relationship which we watched play out over the course of the season.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that a new VH1 spin-off is coming to town. The network, which was once known for music videos back when MTV first started straying from music, is now known for some fighting, catty women. Its hit Basketball Wives now features two different series in Miami and Los Angeles, as well as the spin-off Baseball Wives.

Now the same has happened for Love & Hip Hop, as the franchise is expanding to include some lovely ladies of Atlanta.

Season 2 of the hit show, which centers around women in the hip-hop industry, averaged close to 3 million viewers, with 3.15 million tuning in to watch the last episode. Those numbers compare to RHOA viewership. For VH1 to hit those kind of benchmarks is huge for the network which is testing the waters with these bickering Betties.

The article cites, “Atlanta, of course, is known as a major town for hip hop. Several folks in the hip-hop/R&B world from Atlanta have already taken part in reality shows, including Keyshia Cole, Toni Braxton, Chilli, Monica, T.I. and Tiny and Kandi Burruss, to name a few. And if you go back a few years, there was Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston.”

Apparently, if you can’t sell your music, you need to be showcasing yourself on your own reality show, and it seems that Atlanta is the place to do it. In fact, TLC has already announced that its new reality show Preacher Wives will be filmed in the Georgia hot spot.

Casting for the Love & Hip Hop spin-off has not been finalized, though, it is being rumored that these ladies are in talks to join the cast – rapper Diamond, video model Summer Walker, rapper Rasheeda, and exotic dancer Gigi Maguire.

Meanwhile the reunion for the current season airs tonight at 8/7c on VH1. However, it’s being touted as more of a “special episode” than a reunion, seeing as several of the ladies couldn’t handle being in the same room with one another. I guess John Salley just doesn’t have the referee skills needed for this bunch!

Show producer Mona Scott Young revealed on twitter that they couldn’t film a reunion because some of the cast members wouldn’t be in the same room together. While it’s been rumored that those cast members are Chrissy Lampkinand Yandy Smith, sources are stating Chrissy is the lone one who refused to be in the same room as Yandy.

On tonight’s “special episode”–aptly titled “Reality Check”–Yandy speaks with producer (and her mentor) Mona Scott Young about the role she played on the show.

In the preview clip posted below, we find out it was Yandy’s nemesis Chrissy who originally wanted her on the show. That, however, changed as soon as Scott decided to make Yandy a regular on the show, much to the dismay of the soon to be Mrs. Jim Jones.

Explaining her decision to increase the camera time for Jim Jones’ former manager, Mona tells Yandy: “You were funny, you were charismatic, we wanted to see more of Yandy.“

This still doesn’t explain why Chrissy has so much rage towards Yandy. And it’s that rage that is causing the reunion to be nothing more than the ladies being interviewed separately. Where is the fun in that?

Of course, we know that even individually, the women can bring the drama as evident in the clip below, Chrissy is quick to remind Yandy, “B*tch, you on MY show!” Yikes! Once again Chrissy, you need a hobby! One that doesn’t involve Jim or bickering with the people in Jim’s life!

We are patiently waiting for the Love & Hip Hop reunion, but thankfully, in the interim, the ladies from the show are still talking. And talking, and talking, and talking. Keep it coming, girls!

In an interview with Sister2Sister, songstress Olivia Longott opens up about the show’s sophomore season, as well as what’s on tap for her future.

Recently, Olivia and Mama Nancy Jones got into a verbal war on–where else?–twitter. The site brings us regular folks reality beef one mean tweet at a time. Since Chrissy Lampkin’s proposal to Jim Jones, Olivia and Nancy have rarely, if ever, filmed together. The singer waited a bit before retaliating to the rap matriarch’s twitter assault and now she’s defending herself in the blogoshpere.

Olivia wonders, “How can you be mad at me? First of all, she started it and I let her go on for a minute. You can’t just expect to disrespect me and I’m not going to say nothing. We’re both grown women.” Grown women with twitter accounts…by far the most dangerous kind of mature adults.

Not that the normally calm Olivia hasn’t gotten used to being at the center of conflict. It’s just usually not her own. This season, Olivia was placed smack dab in the middle of the spat between two of her friends, Jim’s fiancee Chrissy and Jim’s manager Yandy Smith. As viewers will recall, Chrissy pressed for Olivia to take a stand and choose sides between the feuding women, while Yandy maintained that she would respect her friend’s decision to remain neutral.

Olivia wants to clear up the misconception that she was shaken by Chrissy’s confrontational nature during those scenes. As for appearing fearful of the overbearing Chrissy, Olivia is adamant that she was “[n]ot scared at all.” She reveals her reaction “had nothing to do with fear.”

Olivia contends, “I’m just not choosing sides. Why should I have to choose sides? We’re all grown ups. I told both of them! I told Yandy where I thought she was wrong and I told Chrissy where I thought she was wrong.” I have to agree. I don’t think she was playing to either friend. She simply didn’t want to be put at the center of Yandy and Chrissy’s drama.

Still on everyone’s mind is Olivia’s refusal to accept the three-record deal from EMI. After watching her struggle all season to revive her flailing career, it was strange to see her dismiss an opportunity that many other artists would have accepted in a second. However, Olivia maintains that she needed to remain true to herself and her music. She believes that the deal could have robbed her of controlling the direction of her career path.

She reveals, “I’m passionate about my craft and I’m not going to settle for less. I don’t know why that’s so hard to understand. Just because other people might just take the first [thing] that comes at them, that doesn’t mean I’m going to.” Summing up her position, Olivia states that “[i]t has to make sense all around.”

Perhaps turning down the deal was the right choice, as Olivia alludes to the notion that she has other offers on the table. In fact, while she’s mum on what may happen in the future, she maintains that better deals have been forthcoming since filming ceased.

Meanwhile, Emily Bustamante has been strutting her stuff for KONTROL magazine. Some pictures from her December photo shoot are below. The girl looks stunning (and no, I’m not on her payroll, or anyone else’s). Eat your heart out, Fab!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF OLIVIA’S INTERVIEW? SHOULD SHE HAVE TAKEN THE EMI DEAL? ARE YOU READY FOR THE REUNION? COMMENTS ON EMILY’S PICTURES?

Last night was the finale of Love & Hip Hop. Given all the drama of the past season, it was a relatively tame ending. Almost nap worthy. Of course, our friends at VH1 tied up all the story lines with a neat little bow, but let enough drama leak to insure another season. No matter what, the finale was not much more than…{yawn}.

Kimbella invites Yandy over to discuss her latest blow-up with Erica. Yandy is shocked — she thought the pair was fine, but Kimbella fills her in on Erica’s recent interview. Regardless, Kimbella has bigger fish to fry as Juelz has been arrested for an episode with a neighbor. Her heart breaks every time she gets an update from prison.

Last night was the next to the last episode of Love & Hip Hop. I don’t know about you, but I feel as if this season has flown by in a relatively boring string of similar-minded cat fights. Erica Mena and Kimbella Vanderhee are at each others’ throats yet again, Yandy Smith is desperate to find someone who finds her to be a totally innocent party in her smack down with Chrissy Lampkin and unprofessional e-mail to Jim Jones, and Olivia Longett keeps singing away. Emily Bustamante is still pining for Fab and Somaya Reece makes a rare appearance.

Olivia and Emily are discussing the fight between Yandy and Chrissy. Emily has Chrissy’s back while Olivia feels she stuck between two friends. Yandy joins the pair and Emily smugly sizes up Yandy. Yandy hopes that Emily will help show Chrissy her side of things, but no dice. Emily will leave that job for Olivia.

In a recent interview with NecoleBitchie.com, the controversial former manager of rapper Jim Jones discusses her edit on the show, her real friends and how she got to the top of her profession… that, and a little rumor about her boyfriend’s fight with Jim Jones. Because it’s not reality television if there isn’t fighting — even off-camera — right? An excerpt from that interview is below.

Yandy, you came out the Violator Management camp. Exactly how long have you been in the industry?I got an internship with Violator in 2004, right out of college at Howard. Then I turned that into a position there.

When and where did you meet Jim Jones?I met Jim in 2005 on a private jet chartered by Russell Simmons. They were flying us to Detroit for the Hip Hop summit to register young voters and Jim and I sat next to one another. He kept telling me that he managed this group The Diplomats and I told him to hit me up if he needed any help. He started calling me every day and eventually I was like ‘You’re going to have to pay me for this.” So I became his official manager and left Violator in 2005.

On the show you’re definitely portrayed as a woman about her business. Were you always that way? Or was there a situation that brought that out of you?You know what, when I went to Howard, I got a scholarship the first two years. But my mother made me pay for the last two years. So that really taught me to be about my business. Yeah, being social was great and I did that too but I definitely learned quickly that I had to handle mine. And when school was over, I brought that same mindset to Violator Management. I knew I had to hurry up and find a job so I could pay back my student loans. So I came in on my business.

So on the show you made the statement that at the end of the day, for you it’s about making money…See that was only part of the statement. What they didn’t show you was that I also said how much I love Jim. See a lot of that is changed in editing or manipulated by producers.

Let’s talk about that. Are you happy with the way you’ve been represented?(Groans) See, here’s the thing: most people don’t realize how this really works. If the producers contact me and say there’s a woman named Erica Mena interested in meeting with me about management, I don’t know what an Erica Mena is. But I took the meeting and all the sudden its made to look like I’m starting something. Or if Emily [Bustamante] invites me along with the rest of the girls to her party, I don’t know what type of party it is until I get there. And really I didn’t come with Kimbella. The camera just shows us walking up to the house together, so now it looks like I’ve brought Kimbella [Vanderhee] and I didn’t.

So have you been portrayed wrong?Listen, you can’t edit something that you do. I am who I am on the show with one exception: I really don’t have any drama in my life. I’m not around grown women fighting and all of that. That doesn’t happen in my normal life. A lot of that is manipulated because it makes sense in the storyline.

Would you consider your cast mates friends in real life?No. I’m friends with Kimbella. She is genuinely my friend. I like Somaya [Reece]. I like Olivia. I knew Olivia from my Violator days. I wasn’t on her day to day team but we got to know each other better after that.

What about Chrissy?I never had a reason to be close with Chrissy [Lampkin]. Before the show I really only had a relationship with Chrissy through Jim. If we were going somewhere and Jim was like ‘I’m bringing Chrissy’ then I was like cool. But we never hung out or had dinner at each others houses. I have that relationship with Juelz and Kim. I’m the God mother of their child.

So you’ve finished filming and I know you’ve got a big episode coming up and you can’t tell us too much. So let me ask you this, are you at peace with how the situation ended with you and Jim?I’m at peace. Absolutely. You know what? The show brought a lot of things to light. I’m quick to brother out somebody. I’m super quick to call a dude my brother – and part of that comes from being a woman in this industry. Calling someone my brother lets other people know there’s nothing going on and it sends a message to that dude that there’s a line he shouldn’t cross with me. But Jim? Jim was deeper than my brother. In a lot of ways I think of Jim as my first born. He really was my very first project. We were broke together and then got rich together.

So where is that relationship now?I will always love Mama Jones. Mama Jones and I used to talk for hours about all sorts of things – not just Jim – so I will always have a relationship with her.

What about Jim?I’ll just say this: Jim will always be a very important factor in my career history. Like I said, he was there in the beginning, so my appreciation for that will always be there.

[If] they asked you back for Season 3, would you do it?I don’t know at this point. Honestly. The people that can really affect my bottom line, know what it is. But the other people that see the show and call me the Don King of the show, they think ‘oh Yandy’s messy.’ I don’t know if there’s anywhere else for me to go on the show. And I don’t need my own show. America likes to watch a train wreck. Chrissy could have her own show. But I’m not a train wreck. So I don’t know.

Do you have a boyfriend?(Laughs) Yes, I have a boo.

Did he beat up Jim Jones?I don’t know. I wasn’t there. I heard Jim say it was a botched robbery in Harlem.

Whoa! According to the rumor mill, Yandy’s boyfriend allegedly beat up Jim Jones a few weeks ago in NYC. Sources close to Jim have, however, insisted it was a botched robbery. That is some pretty hefty stuff if you ask me. Personally, I enjoy some Yandy on the show, but all the ladies bring that certain something (read: DRAMZ!) to each episode.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YANDY’S INTERVIEW? DO YOU THINK SHE’S A LEGITIMATE PROFESSIONAL OR THE “DON KING” OF THE SERIES? ANY TRUTH TO THE RUMOR THAT HER BOYFRIEND BEAT UP JIM JONES?

After last week’s romantic (?) proposal, Love & Hip Hop resumed with some slight back story behind Jim Jones’ decision to head to Miami. There is a video montage of the pair from season one intermixed with Jim preparing to pop the question.

As he waxes poetic in the background about what it means to have Chrissy as a lady and confidante, why she is perfect for him, and what all they’ve been through, we watch him shower (he totes has a body under those baggy clothes!), profess his love for Chrissy in the steamy mirror and contemplate choosing the perfect ring. Oh VH1, how cheesy lovely.

After Chrissy says yes, it turns out the entire Miami trip was a set-up by Jim. He has all her friends and family at the restaurant, and apparently Emily, Teairra, and Olivia were in on the plan as well. I clearly didn’t give Jim enough credit. That was a pretty sweet proposal. In her interview, Chrissy cries about how wonderful it feels to be a Jones, compliments crizazy Mama Jones (love!) for raising such a wonderful son and ends with a tearful, “Even if we never get married… I will always have love for Jim in my f*&^ing heart.” And here I was thinking that Jim was the more romantic out of the two. Chrissy is like a female Shakespeare!